Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Mary Ann said...
WOW! Gorgeous!!! Love following Taylor, she is a great designer, I learned a lot from her!!!!
October 29, 2013 at 7:50 AM
For her prize, Mary Ann has won 11206MC Vintage Ornaments Clear Set (drawn by artist Trudy Sjolander):

Thanks to everyone for helping me thank Taylor Usryfor sharing her delightful projects with us during October. Please return this Sunday to meet our next inspiring Inky Guest Designer!

The gorgeous card she made for today's post utilizes all of these products:

For me, the star of the show are these beautiful ornaments:

Taylor gave them a festive touch, which I think is just perfect for the holidays, using Iridescent Spray & Sparkle:

But that's not the only glittery aspect. "The whole thing shimmers and sparkles," she explains, "because the Centura Pearl cardstock base has a shimmer to it (best card stock ever), as does the silver DCWV layer!"

1. On two different Post-It Notes, stamp the round and larger rounded ornaments; fussy cut them both.

2. On white cardstock, stamp first the round ornament. Place the mask you created directly on top of it, and then stamp the larger rounded ornament where desired. After stamping it, place the mask for the ornament directly on top of it and stamp the third, long ornament. Fussy cut this trio of ornaments.

Will you join me in thanking Taylor for being our wonderful Inky Guest Designer this month? Just leave a comment at the end of this post with a note to her.

By participating, you'll also be entered in a BLOG CANDY giveaway. On Wednesday, October 30th, I'll randomly choose the winner for 11206MC Vintage Ornaments Clear Set. I'll post the lucky person's name here on the blog, so please check back to see if you've won!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Are you ready for Halloween yet, Inky friends? Like this guy, I've had pumpkins on my mind lately:

Hah, Halloween flashers...not from our neighborhood, but that would be hilarious:

Have you gotten your costume yet?

Don't forget about candy for the trick-or-treaters. In real life, I think this house would get egged:

And the holiday season is just beginning, which I love:

Speaking of treats, don't forget about our BLOG CANDY giveaway, which you can still enter until tomorrow morning.

If you don't subscribe to one of the social media services listed, just email a friend to pass on the message. Remember to let me know what you did in the comments section at the end of that post, so we can include you in the drawing!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A couple of weeks ago, we
presented several cards that Nancy Baier had made using one of her stamp sets from the Handcarved Autumn collection, 11197MC Forest & Pines Clear Set:

In that post, the Owl in Tree image was featured. As you can see above, this set also contains a pretty scene of a lake surrounded by pine trees...which is shown here stamped in brown ink, with a bit of sparkle provided by a copper leaf pen:

Hey, did you happen to notice that pinecone? It can be used as a terrific background, as shown in this weekly project as well as the second card of this entry I'd written earlier.

Check out the fun pinecone line-up at the bottom of this card, too:

Not only that, but that versatile pinecone also makes a great focal point on its own, as shown here:

In the above "clean and simple" design, the pinecone was stamped in brown ink, colored with pan pastels, and accented with a white gel pen. I love how the white outline and highlights really make the image pop.

You know, if one pinecone is good, then aren't three of them even better? Take a peek at this:

"I embossed it with three Stampendous powders, including copper," describes Nancy, "[and] used Kaisercraft paper with shiny copper highlights. The edges of the image panel are colored with Copper leafing pen. And four score lines border an additional strip of the background paper, lined up to match. Sort of an optical illusion, eh? It almost looks like it's the background peeking through."

Thanks so much to Nancy for sharing her lovely creations...and of course to you, Inky friends, for joining us today!

Would YOU like the chance to win your very own 11197MC Forest & Pines Clear Set? Please use the icons below to share this post with your stamping buddies, and you'll be entered in a BLOG CANDY giveaway. Just click on the one of the choices (email, blog post, Twitter, Facebook, or Google) and complete it, and then leave a comment at the end of this post to let me know what you did.

On Saturday, October 26th, I'll randomly choose the winner for the same clear set that Nancy used in these projects and post that person's name...so please check back to see if you've won!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Taylor Usry has been married to her husband for 11 years. They have two children, a daughter who just turned 8 and a son who is 3½. They also have a Siamese cat, Mr. Darcy (Taylor is a huge Jane Austen fan), and the kids are lobbying hard to rescue a dog.

When I asked her about a current favorite stamping technique, Taylor replied, "Clean and simple–it fits into the time I’ve got left over for crafting! Between marriage, parenting, travel, work, and reading (my other love), crafting often gets pushed aside."

Taylor's strategy for making time to stamp by using a simpler approach is just what today's project beautifully reflects:

"I created this as a CAS card because I do a lot of mass-producing for holiday cards," explains Taylor, "so I need things that are easy to reproduce and cost effective to mail. This fun color combo adds plenty of visual interest, and the recipients won't even miss the lack of embellishments!"

Kidding. We just bought a couple of items from their wedding registry. At least we know that kind of gift is "always right"!

* * *

The Perfect Dress

Jennifer's wedding day was fast approaching. Nothing could dampen her excitement, not even her parents' nasty divorce a few years back. All of her careful planning had paid off, and there were just a few last-minute details remaining.

It was all coming together very nicely. Not only that, but her mother had found the perfect dress to wear and would be the best dressed mother-of-the-bride ever, which also made Jennifer happy!

A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn that her father's new young wife had bought the exact same dress.
Jennifer asked her to exchange it, but she refused. "Absolutely not. I look like a million bucks in this dress, and I'm wearing it," she replied.

Jennifer told her mother, who graciously said, "Never mind, sweetheart. I'll get another dress. After all, it's your special day."

A few days later, they went shopping and did find another gorgeous dress. When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, "Aren't you going to return the other dress? You really don't have another occasion where you could wear it."

Her mother just smiled and replied,
"Of course I do, dear. I'm wearing it to the rehearsal dinner, the night before the wedding."

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

As you know, many of Inky's stamps are in the "open line art" style. It makes them wonderful for coloring in, whether you're using colored pencils and Gamsol, alcohol-based markers, or other mediums.

But sometimes it's fun to try something out of the ordinary, so Nancy Baier has been exploring new looks, as exemplified in her Handcarved Autumn collection. One of the stamp sets in this grouping is 11201MC Wildflowers & Weeds Clear Set:

These bold, silhouette-style designs lend themselves well to a variety of inking techniques, and Nancy applied several to create a bunch of cards that I'm excited to share with you today!

Resist methods have been around for a long time, and I love the results of this one:

Nancy stamped the flowers/weeds and bird with a VersaMagic chalk pigment ink and heat-embossed using detail white powder. Then she rubbed a few shades pan pastels over the top, which naturally blend together. So very pretty, don't you think? (The sentiment is from 11111MC Moonlight Raccoon Clear Set.)

Next, I've got a beautiful card that reminds me of a cool batik project that I made at summer camp many moons ago, when I was a pre-teen:

Unfortunately, I don't have any notes on how Nancy made it. Do YOU have any ideas? (You can click on a close-up for a better view and then leave a comment at the bottom. Hint, hint!) I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

This CAS-style card is light and airy, and it would be very quick to recreate:

The stamps were colored directly using Tombow markers and spritzed very lightly with water before stamping. (Sentiment is from 11196MC Autumn Fields Clear Set or 2009D in wood mounted.) Nancy sponged the sun in Distress Inks with a homemade circle-punched stencil.

Want to warm things up a bit? Add deep oranges and reds to the color scheme, and you've automatically moved farther into the autumn season. It's a bit hard to see the true effect in the photo, but Tsukineko's Delicata Ink Pad in Golden Glitz has been rubbed onto the edges of each image panel to add a pretty, lustrous glow.

The copper detail embossing powder for the sentiment and the images in the upper right enhance the fall-like mood of this card:

Finally, we couldn't forget Halloween since it's coming up in just a couple of weeks! This card has a clear heat-embossed sheen on top:

For another "boo-tiful" card, check out this week's project on the main Inky site. Hope your week has more wildflowers than weeds in it, Inky friends!

Friday, October 11, 2013

This week,
I scheduled a flower delivery for my friend's birthday, which is part of her present every year.

It's not due to be sent until next month, so I hope all my advance planning will turn out okay. It reminded me of today's joke that I've been saving until just the right moment...which apparently is today!

A restaurant that had been very successful was moving to a new, bigger location. One of the restaurant owner's friends decided to send a big bouquet of flowers for the happy occasion.

On the day of the restaurant’s grand opening, a big bouquet of flowers arrived, but the owner was puzzled by the card that came with it. It said: “Rest in peace.”

The restaurant owner called his friend and told him about the card. The friend was so angry that he actually went to the flower shop to complain about the mistake.

The clerk at the flower shop apologized and said, “Sir, if it’s any consolation, there’s a funeral taking place on the other side of town, and the card that came with their flowers says, 'Congratulations on your new location.'"

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Krissy said...
OMG! This is just so stinkin' cute! Taylor is SUPER talented! What a great stamp set and what a fabulous artist!
October 6, 2013 at 9:33 AM
For her prize, Krissy has won 11172MC Party Birdy HoneyPOP Clear Set (drawn by artist Tammy DeYoung):

Thanks to everyone for helping me welcome Taylor Usry as this month as Inky's Guest Designer for October. Keep your eyes peeled for more of her wonderful projects coming soon!

She featured the Owl in Tree image (2267H in wood mounted), which happens to be one of my personal favorites from our new Handcarved Autumn collection (part of the Nature's Moments series).

This CAS (clean and simple) design would be easily to replicate quickly, and I like the touches of silver embossing powder along the edge and silver cord around the middle:

The owl image in this card was also colored with alcohol markers...but, wow, what a change! I don't often remember to use "alternative" colors on my own stamped images. However, I want to put this on my short list, because I love the results:

Compared to alcohol markers, the pan pastels lend a much softer appearance:

This image looks great when heat embossed with copper powder, too. Now our little guy is sporting water colored feathers, and did you noticed the clever punched-circle sun:

Want to really shake things up? Start with the same embossed image, but stamp on kraft cardstock and color with a white gel pen:

Isn't that dramatic! You can't tell from the above photo, but the text in the patterned paper is also printed in metallic copper, which pulls everything together so nicely.

In our last card, the embossing powder was used only on the sentiment. The cut-out frame and white gel pen accents add beautiful touches to this pretty project:

Which card do you like best, Inky friends? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

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